Why give a wallet as a gift?

YES, absolutely!

In some parts of Europe, Spain in particular, it is a common misconception that putting money in a wallet before gifting it is not an essential requirement. That is completely wrong! There are numerous examples of people who have learned this lesson the hard way and unwittingly bestowed an stream of bad luck upon their loved ones, colleagues or business associates. A recently example includes the city of Madrid whose bid for the 2020 Olympics unexplainably failed in Sep 2013, shortly after the mayor had received a new (empty) wallet as a gift from the Ambassador of Japan. Tokyo (Japan) was announced as the winner of the 2020 Olympics.